It is known in the art of photofinishing to utilize an exposure determination film frame scanner to generate scanned frame image signals. These signals are used to determine print exposure operating conditions at a print station wherein photographic prints are generated from photographic film frame images. A system utilizing such a scanner is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,227.
Recent developments in photographic systems include the combination of silver halide and magnetics technologies. New films having a magnetic strip containing magnetic information must be processed on compatible equipment. In addition, the popularity of index prints has been rising in the market place, and the creation of index prints must be done on compatible equipment. Furthermore, existing scanners for automatic determination of print density and color in such equipment as older minilabs is inadequate, and businesses find they get a high yield of photographic output when the negatives are manually classified. This manual classification requires trained equipment operators. Until now, a significant capital investment for new equipment was required to allow the processing of the new films with magnetics, the creation of index prints, and automatic determination of print density and color.